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On Thursday, October 12, 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order which may significantly impact those covered under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Executive Order would expand access to less expensive policies that provide minimal coverage and benefits and more exclusions and limitations than mandated under ACA. These cheaper policies could either be short-term medical coverage policies offered to individuals and families by commercial insurance companies or policies sold through trade associations to their members.

However, this process will likely take months to make significant changes as federal agencies propose new regulations.

Until then, not much will change.

The ACA will remain in place, including the 2017 tax penalty for those individuals residing in the US that do not have an ACA compliant policy.

Three million workers with final salary pensions have a 50 per cent chance of losing up to fifth of their income because their employers have made unaffordable promises, a recent report has warned. Could you be one of them?Learn more

Income strategies continue to be remarkably popular. To an extent this is understandable given many retirees rely on their defined contribution pension pot to provide income that funds their retirement.

There is something satisfying about watching regular income flow into your portfolio but many investors fail to grasp that a paid out dividend is also a missed opportunity to stay in the market. Over the long term, staying in the market has proven itself to be the better option when seeking capital returns.

Jernej Bukovec (CFA) of Momentum Global Investment Management, one of our UK regulated, discretionary fund managers, discusses recent research published by the Research Affiliates that looks at the performance chasing behaviour in ETFs, and its implications for investors. Click here to view.

A quirk in the income tax system means HMRC is wrongly overcharging people who make use of new rules to draw cash from pensions.

Recent figures show the Treasury banked £1.6bn in tax from the first year of the pension freedoms (April 2015-16), nearly double its initial estimate of £910m. The discrepancy could be explained by a low ratio of people reclaiming overpaid tax, compared to those who have made withdrawals, experts suggest. Learn more

Whilst worldwide commission disclosure for life companies based in the Isle of Man such as Old Mutual International, Friends Provident International, and RL360 are two years away, life companies are beginning to brace themselves for a major slump in sales once the changes come into effect in January 2019. Some have argued the regulatory changes may sound the final death knell for life companies, which sought to delay commission disclosure that were intended to come into force in January 2018.Learn more